It didn’t take long for City Winery Hudson Valley to go from its 2020 opening to one of the region’s most-lauded wine producers. In the last year alone, the Montgomery-based winery has taken home over 24 awards from internationally recognized competitions, such as the New York International Wine Competition, the Great American International Wine Competition, and the Jefferson Cup Invitational, which celebrate the best winemakers from the US and across the world who are operating at the top of their game.
Among the wines that City Winery Hudson Valley has received high praise for include its 2021 “Cuvée Bacigalupi” Reserve Zinfandel, 2020 Reserve Merlot, 2019 “Cuvée Durant” Signature Series Pinot Noir (newly released as a Signature Series bottle with a limited edition label hand drawn by David Byrne of the Talking Heads), and 2021 “Harmony Drops” Chardonnay.
“This isn’t something new for us in terms of wine quality. This has been the vision for City Winery from the beginning,” says Travis Van Caster, head winemaker at City Winery Hudson Valley, a go-to destination for award-winning wine, gourmet fine dining, and world-class performing arts. “Going back to City Winery’s roots in 2008, the vision was always to find the very best grapes possible and make amazing wines with them. That was what brought me to City Winery in the first place,” he says.
Van Caster, who got his start in the wine industry at the acclaimed estate winery Left Coast Cellars, in Oregon’s famed Willamette Valley, had been working at a large-scale winery in California prior to joining the City Winery team. “I learned winemaking with the focus that great wine is made in the vineyard,” says Van Caster. “I was so excited to get back to that style of winemaking where we let the grapes do their thing, and allow for things to happen naturally as much as possible.”
According to Van Caster, the secret to City Winery’s success has been in searching out the best grapes in the US and showcasing each vineyard’s terroir. “To me, that means when you drink our wines, you should be able to tell where the grapes come from,” he says.
With its back-to-basics approach to winemaking, City Winery has developed a wide-ranging portfolio that showcases the best grapes available in any given year. While this means that most of the winery’s grapes often come from lauded West Coast vineyards in Napa Valley and Willamette Valley, Van Caster says that there’s always the opportunity for something special to pop up.
The 2020 Reserve Merlot, for instance, was made with grapes from the Uva Blanca vineyard in New York’s Finger Lakes region—a change-up caused by the California wildfires that has resulted in multiple awards for the 2020 vintage. “If we see something in the grapes, we’ll take a chance to see if we can make something special,” Van Caster says.
Wine lovers interested in trying City Winery’s award-winning wines can find them by stopping by City Winery Hudson Valley in Montgomery for a wine flight in the tasting room, taking a vineyard tour, or attending one of its wine events. Select bottles are also available for purchase online, and the winery also offers a Vinofile wine club membership that includes a new wine to try each month, discounts on wine, and special and advance access to City Winery events. For more information about the wine program at City Winery Hudson Valley, visit Citywineryhudsonvalley.com.
